Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself
and is divided, he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder the house.”
—Mark 3:20-35
A house divided cannot stand:
The roof will kiss the floor.
When civil war consumes the land,
the kingdom stands no more.
Then how shall I, fragmented heart,
stand upright on my own?
No, I will take my fractured parts
and lay them at your throne.
Come, then, O king and conqueror:
That strong man bind in me.
What plunders me, O plunderer,
bind fast, and set me free.
Drive out the demons driving me;
the space that's left, come fill.
Knit me together, piece by piece,
that I may do your will.
Then I shall be your own, O Lord,
when I at last am mine,
one with the throng before your throne:
Your body, and your bride.
The Hanged Man’s House, Cézanne, 1873. By Paul Cézanne – Paul Cézanne, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132795
Kate Bluett 